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Entry 15 by Temitope Akinyemi

Perhaps that aboki has poisoned me. It has always been obvious that he has never liked me. Those Indomie noodles that I have been eating at his place on most mornings probably are juju worms that have woken up in my stomach to carry out his evil bidding. But I am strong, and will come to no harm. I will not eat at Aboki’s place again!

These days, finding Rosco is becoming increasingly difficult. He goes off to ply the roads of this bewildering city in his danfo at earlier times than usual, and comes back in the wee hours of the morning, when I am sleeping. I do not like this. Once, I stayed awake well into the cold night in wait of him, and when he came in, I demanded that he take me to his danfo. To my amazement, he refused! It was only when I began to wail that he grabbed me roughly and did as I asked. His calloused hands were not gentle on my skin, but I was happy.

I do not understand Rosco. Does he not like me anymore? Is it because I have been vomiting in the morning for some days now? I hope he does not blame me for being poisoned by that dastardly aboki, because that was not my fault. Can’t Rosco see that my body is slowly overcoming those disgusting yellow worms, and will soon recover, and be beautiful again? He must be so stupid to not realize this. In fact, my stomach has even become slightly bigger, in preparation for the day on which I will shit all that vermin from my intestines.

Me? Crazy? I curse those who say so! At times, when I walk the dusty streets near my house, people look at me strangely. The little children flee in panic on sighting me, as if I am some kind of wild animal. Some of them, from a safe distance, then begin to chant horrible things at me, while others just stand and cry. Of late, they have often focused on my protruding belly, which has become even bigger. They do not understand; I have been poisoned by that wicked aboki, and my body is only preparing to shit out all the worms. These days, especially now that Rosco is so hard to find, I pass the whole night weeping.

My belly has now become quite enormous. Aboki’s witchcraft must be very powerful. Yesterday, some of my neighbors asked who had done this terrible thing to me, and I said: ‘Aboki.’ I am now in a strange building, surrounded by many funny-looking people wearing long white coats. I do not know what they are doing, and I do not care, now that Rosco has disappeared completely. The only good thing is that I heard that the aboki was beaten to within an inch of his life for what he did to me. He will never go about poisoning people with his worms again!